Lincoln Road is getting a bet placed on both of its ends at once. Two developers are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into opposite stretches of Miami Beach's flagship retail corridor, wagering that pedestrian plazas and boutique storefronts can revive a strip hollowed out by years of rising rents and empty storefronts.

Michael Comras of Comras Company is building NoLi, a 150,000-square-foot shopping district on the north side of the 700 block. Peter Kanavos, a partner at Flag Luxury Group, is redesigning the eastern gateway where Lincoln Road meets the beach. Together, the projects aim to draw full-time residents back to a strip where rents have fallen from a peak of $300 per square foot nearly a decade ago to $120 to $200 per square foot, according to Lincoln Road BID President Lyle Stern.

NoLi: A paseo through the old Forever 21

Comras spent $140 million in November 2025 acquiring 11 storefronts from Morgan Stanley at addresses including 600, 719-737, 741 and 801-821 Lincoln Road, financing the purchase with a $117 million loan from San Francisco-based Acore Capital. The $30 million redevelopment will carve Via NoLi, an 18-foot-wide pedestrian paseo, through the shuttered Forever 21 building, connecting Lincoln Road to North Lincoln Lane.

"My vision really is taking backs of buildings and creating second fronts," Comras told The Real Deal. "I don't think we should have backs of buildings, not in an urban environment. Everything should be a front."

The Miami Beach Historic Preservation and Design Review Boards gave the project unanimous approval. Demolition is underway, with full-scale construction expected to begin in September. Retail spaces will range from 400 to 4,000 square feet, a deliberate contrast to the large-format stores occupied by chains like Zara and Nike.

A NoLi Plaza with café seating and a central fountain rounds out the plan.

The Miami Beach City Commission is scheduled to vote today on a resolution directing city staff to negotiate a development and concession agreement with Comras's entities for improvements on city-owned parcels along North Lincoln Lane. The Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee recommended the action at its July 8 meeting.

Kanavos targets the 'black hole' at the beach end

Kanavos describes the stretch between Collins Avenue and Washington Avenue as "the black hole" for pedestrians. His first phase, a $12 million overhaul of the 100 block, would widen walkways, add landscaping and install an art walk with sculptures stretching to the sand. Funding is split roughly three ways: about $4 million each from Flag Luxury Group, the state of Florida and the city of Miami Beach.

A larger phase envisions permanently closing the 200 and 300 blocks to traffic and adding landscaped islands with food and beverage concepts, a performance stage, chess tables and bocce courts. Kanavos said he will not file applications with the City Commission until he has a financial plan in place. The city does not have the money for that phase, he said.

Lincoln Road by the numbers

Stern said the corridor's retail strip has an 80% occupancy rate, not counting pending leases. Insurance and property taxes add $30 to $70 per square foot on top of rent, and those costs are passed to tenants. Many storefronts that appear empty are actually leased and awaiting permits or tenant build-outs, he said.

The city is separately advancing a $29.4 million infrastructure improvement project on Lincoln Road, and the BID began a new 10-year term extending through 2035.

The road ahead

The City Commission meets today to consider the NoLi concession agreement and a separate referral to discuss a possible historical designation plaque for Lincoln Road. More than 70,000 square feet of new retail, dining and entertainment concepts are slated for the corridor in 2026, including Uniqlo at 530 Lincoln Road and an 18,000-square-foot City Food Hall at 1601 Drexel Avenue.